Montgomery boys defend Callan tournament title, top Casa Grande 58-48

The Montgomery High School boys basketball team won its second straight championship in the Brett Callan Memorial Tournament, defeating host Casa Grande 58-48 Saturday in Petaluma.

The Vikings (7-3) made it to the final round of the 13th edition of one of the Redwood Empire's standout annual tournaments by defeating Del Campo 60-55 with some tough defense down the stretch on Friday.

“We just wanted to try to improve a little bit and play a little harder and get a little more solid and execute a little better. We're just taking it one a game at a time. It's early in the year, so we just tried to focus on ourselves and clean some things up,” Montgomery coach Zac Tiedeman said.

As for the Gauchos (6-4), they came into the game looking to win the tournament for the first time in eight years after defeating Washington of San Francisco 72-52 in the semifinals. But once again Casa came up short, and the Gauchos have now been runner-up six times out of the 13 years of the tournament.

“We knew they were going to shoot well, we knew they were going to be patient and they exceeded my expectations. They got deep in the shot clock on every single possession. Coach Tiedeman does a great job; they're disciplined on offense, they play hard on defense and they shot well as always,” Casa Grande coach Jake Lee said. His team's record against Montgomery now drops to 0-8.

The teams opened the first quarter close, both hitting threes and getting to the line.

But the Vikings pulled away late in the period, going on a 13-5 run to end the quarter, largely due to the play of guard Harvey Rouleau on both ends of the court.

“(Rouleau) does a lot for us; he's a senior and three-year starter. We ask him to do a lot, we ask him to handle the ball a lot, score, defend. He's capable of it, so that's why we ask him,” Tiedeman said.

Montgomery led 18-10 after the first. The Gauchos' offense opened up in the second quarter as they started to drain some 3-pointers. But Montgomery's excellent ball movement continued to provide good looks for the Vikings and they went into halftime leading 33-24.

Montgomery's stronghold on the defensive end continued in the second half just as the offense started to connect from long range, with the Vikings opening the third quarter on a 10-5 run.

With Brandon Lucas shooting well from deep throughout the third, Montgomery extended the lead to 48-36 by the end of the quarter.

Both teams struggled to score in the fourth and it came down to who was playing better defense - which in the end proved to be the Vikings, who walked away with the 58-48 victory.

All-tournament honors went to guard Noah Bailey and forward Garrett Siebels for Casa Grande and guards Brandon Lucas and Rouleau for Montgomery. Rouleau was also awarded tournament MVP.

Montgomery will next take on Piner High School at home at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Casa Grande goes on the road to face Vintage High School at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Napa.

Del Campo 79, Washington 59

In the third-place game, which was held right before the championship contest on Saturday, the Cougars defeated the Eagles with a heavy presence in the paint.

Del Campo led by 20 points heading into the final quarter and maintained the lead by finding open players, and finishing, in the post.

Cougars guard Jordan Bryant - who led the team with 24 points - and forward Cameron Niles received all-tournament honors.

Other games to round out the tournament included Napa High School's 67-53 win over Analy High School to claim seventh place and Windsor High School's 56-41 loss to Northgate of Walnut Creek in the consolation championship game.